One word to describe this team is passionate. Garrett and Jessica met in Barcelona, Spain while on a yearlong study abroad program and have been dating on and off for seven years—during which time they've had three major breakups. Their fiercely independent natures have kept them from making any real commitment. Both are the oldest children in their families and thrive on being in control and competitive. However, one thing they both agree on is their love for travel--they have been to over 50 countries.

Garrett is certain his engineering background—including a master's degree in engineering from Stanford University—will come in handy on the Race, specifically the ability to assess and analyze complex situations on the fly. He describes himself as confident, hardworking and adventurous. Surfing is his favorite hobby.

Jessica, who describes herself as loyal and spirited, is a travel and lifestyle editor accustomed to being a creative, quick thinker, which will definitely be useful on the Race. Coming from a large Colombian family, Jessica has learned the importance of teamwork. She enjoys photography and being physically and mentally challenged. One of her proudest accomplishments was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (19,340').

Garrett and Jessica believe that this experience may be the final make or break moment in their relationship

Last night, on The Amazing Race, teams headed to Japan where they competed in a kooky Japanese game show challenge, led tourists through the crowded streets, covered tree roots in mud in Vietnam, and herded ducks. The duck challenge is where couple Garrett and Jessica started to lose their lead on the other teams. They arrived at the challenge in second place but left in last. As the last team to arrive at the pit stop, they were eliminated from the race and sent home. Today, Garrett and Jessica spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview and it appears that everything is not what it seemed with this “couple on the rocks”.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made the two of you try out for The Amazing Race? Were you fans of the show?A. Jessica: What made us try out originally was we both have a love of travel. We met abroad in Spain and have been travelling for the last 5 or 6 years together.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do any preparation before heading out to L.A.?A. Jessica: Physically, we just worked out a ton and just made sure that we were as physically fit as possible.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You were shown as the on again/off again couple. How did you manage your relationship while dealing with the stress of the race?A. Garrett: We kind of sold ourselves as a little more unstable than we actually are or were. When I figured out that we were going to be on the race, I thought it would be a great time to propose so I proposed right after we were eliminated. A. Jessica: We were laughing last night watching it. A. Garrett: That’s how we sold ourselves to casting. We were the on/off couple. They have one every year.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Usually couples that are dating on the show tend to fight a lot. Did the two of you talk beforehand about how you were going to treat each other?A. Jessica: I said, “No yelling and no talking bad to each other.” We try not to do on a day to day basis. During the race, it’s so stressful. Everyone’s yelling and everyone’s saying things that they normally wouldn’t say.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did it frustrate you that the sushi wheel challenge was all luck and no skill?A. Garrett: We were baffled when we walked in and they told us the rules. I was like, “This is The Amazing Race and that’s what we’re doing?” Everyone was kind of taken aback by that as a challenge. Once people were into the city with their tour group though, that was a whole other challenge.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was your reaction when you found out that Maria and Tiffany were lying about their occupations?A. Garrett: Everyone was just shocked because we spent the last 24 hours bonding with everyone. Everyone’s telling their stories and being really truthful. Just the way they talked, you could always tell that there was something missing.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which teams did you get close to on the race?A. Garrett: We got along real well with Zev and Justin, Brian and Ericka, and Marcy and Ron.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Besides the fact that the sushi wheel was all luck, you also had to deal with animals. Jessica, how difficult was it to control them and get them to do what you wanted?A. Jessica: Yeah, it was beyond frustrating. Unless you had specific herding experience, it’s all new. I tried to stay calm and that’s the most important thing because animals feed off of stress. They didn’t even show that I had some things majorly impeding me. I had a broken flag once which I couldn’t use at all. One time, I had a duck with a broken foot. We had gotten in there in second place and left 30 seconds behind the second to last team. It was just crappy luck.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did the two of you deal with being eliminated so early in the competition? I’m sure it was both frustrating and disappointing.A. Jessica: It was really hard and we just realized that we had to lean on each other. A. Garrett: It put things in perspective. When you think about marriage and lifelong commitment compared to a reality show, it really does put things in perspective.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did being on The Amazing Race inspire you to travel to places you may not have thought about going before?A. Jessica: I think travelling has always been in our future, regardless of the show… maybe not to Japan or Vietnam anytime soon, but we’ll keep our options open.

A duck with a broken foot apparently played a pivotal role in Garrett Paul and Jessica Stout's The Amazing Race ouster, however the couple used their subsequent time away from the competition to secure the status of their romantic relationship.

Garrett, a 28-year-old day trader from Aptos, CA, and Jessica is a 27-year-old freelance editor from Larkspir, CA, were eliminated during The Amazing Race's fifteenth-season premiere broadcast before being sent to Elimination Station -- where the two ended up getting engaged.

On Monday, Garrett and Jessica talked to Reality TV World about the mishaps surrounding their duck-herding experience; why they think the first leg was largely based on luck; the bittersweet wait for additional teams to arrive at Elimination Station; and how their wedding engagement went down.

Reality TV World: Jessica you were the second person to start the herding Roadblock task, however you were the last to finish it. What was the major problem you had with it -- was it more your approach to the task or were the ducks just somehow especially uncooperative with you?

Jessica: I think if you don't have any experience with animals or herding -- which was almost everybody at first -- the key was really just to remain calm. I actually -- which they didn't show on TV -- I had some technical issues.

Reality TV World: Can you elaborate on that a little?

Jessica: One of the flags they had provided was broken in half and they wouldn't replace it. Last night when I was watching one of the other [contestants], I was laughing because someone else had two flags in their hand. Another problem, one of the ducks I had had a broken foot. (laughing) I couldn't move it, I couldn't touch it. I was kind of at a standstill. So there were just some unfortunate random things out of my control that just made it impossible.

Reality TV World: You also seemed a bit defeated after time expired on your first attempt, and Garrett even commented that you have a "quick fuse" when something doesn't go your way. Do you think that played a role in your inability to complete the task?

Jessica: No. I remained really calm and just kept going back to the person that was demonstrating it and making sure I was doing it correctly. I remained really calm. There was no crying.

Garrett: They always edit it...

Jessica: Yeah, nothing was in order.

Garrett: I could have said that -- or the one time I said that or couple times I might have said it -- most of the time I was really positive and trying to help her. But of course that doesn't make it onto the show.

Reality TV World: About how long did that Roadblock task take you from beginning to end?

Garrett: About 36 or 37 minutes.

Reality TV World: Did you know that "Married Couple" Ericka Dunlap and Brian Kleinschmidt had beaten you to the Pit Stop before you got there?

Jessica: What the whole thing really came down to is we had no idea that the Pit Stop would be next. This was the end of the second leg and there had not been one Detour. We thought if there was a Detour next, we'll just make it up that way. So when we heard Pit Stop we full-fledged ran. But they had the lead. It was still close.

Reality TV World: Did you learn how far behind Brain and Ericka you were in getting to the Pit Stop?

Jessica: I think it was like a minute.

Reality TV World: Wow.

Garrett: Yeah, there was some confusion about the Pit Stop of where it exactly was -- where the mat exactly was. We actually took kind of a wrong turn... but in the end it didn't matter. I think we were just about a minute behind.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when host Phil Keoghan revealed that somebody would be eliminated at the starting line?

Garrett: It was chaos. They gave us that little symbol on the top of the clue, but no one saw that. Like it showed last night ["Friends" Zev Glassenberg and Justin Kanew] were the only ones during the main chaotic part that got it -- everybody else just got lucky.

Then 10-15 minutes later when it was just ["Engaged Couple" Lance Layne and Keri Morrione] and ["Married Yoga Teachers" Eric and Lisa Paskel], then they figured it out. I guess they figured it out at the exact same time -- and Eric and Lisa went right and Lance and Keri went left or something, to look for the symbol, and it just happened to be on Lance and Keri's side.

Reality TV World: Other than the bathroom stop you needed to make in Tokyo, did you guys have any problems leading your tourists to the Pit Stop?

Garrett: That one was crazy. That whole leg was just so luck-based. With the sushi roulette [Roadblock], we got lucky with the sushi roulette -- but we couldn't find anyone who knew where this tiny little shrine was.

On the other side, Brian and Ericka -- Brian ate like 30 pieces of sushi until he got out of there. He was like 10 minutes behind everyone. But as soon as he got dropped in the city, he found someone that knew exactly where the shrine was and they got there in the middle of the pack. So it was a real luck-based first leg I think.

Reality TV World: Several teams expressed frustration at the ability of "Professional Poker Players" Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle to get on the same flight as everybody else despite incurring a two-hour penalty at the non-elimination leg. What was your take on that? Do you think it was fair they were able to land the same flight as everybody else?

Garrett: The funny thing about this season... You know, we didn't really care. It was a non-elimination leg. We were more kind of weirded out that their Speed Bump...

Jessica: Was two minutes...

Garrett: ... was like a two minute task. It wasn't anything. In years past, you see a Speed Bump and it's something that takes you half-an-hour or an hour, something way out of the way. But this one was... Basically you turned around at that dock, walked like 50 feet, went to get the soup or the pho for the dock master and come straight back.

So we were kind of shocked seeing them at the duck thing as soon as we saw them because they showed up real quickly and got done and out of there. They didn't have to do much for that.

Reality TV World: About how much money did it cost the six teams to pay the bus driver so he would leave early and do you remember if there was anybody who was against the idea?

Garrett: No one was against the idea. It was cheap. It was like...

Jessica: Only a few dollars.

Garrett: Well it was probably $30 or $40 for all the extra seats. We just made everybody chip in $5 or $6 or whatever it was, and headed out.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you got to the boat dock and saw that you couldn't get the clue until morning any ways?

Jessica: Typical Amazing Race maneuver.

Garrett: It was an hours-of-operation thing, which does happen. So we just had to take it. It was actually kind of a fun night. We all kind of realized that we weren't going anywhere, and it was maybe 6PM or 7PM at that point, so we kind of unwound and went and ate some of the street food, some of the pho -- I think it was duck, duck pho...

Reality TV World: Did you guys run into any money problems later in the leg because you'd spent extra money paying the bus driver?

Garrett: Oh no.

Reality TV World: How were you cast for The Amazing Race? Was it your first time applying for the show?

Jessica: Yeah, it was our first time ever. We applied through sending a video...

Reality TV World: What was it that made you want to apply for the show?

Jessica: We are huge travelers. We met traveling while living in Barcelona, Spain... We were just doing it for the adventure.

Reality TV World: After you were eliminated, was there anybody you really began rooting to win the $1 million? Was there anybody you didn't want to see win?

Garrett: At that point it was weird because it was kind of bittersweet when people would win or lose because you'd want... We became kind of close with Brian and Ericka and Justin and Zev when we were still racing. So we wanted to see them do well, we wanted to see them win the $1 million.

But at the same time, we were kind of stuck on Elimination Station island in Vietnam, so we wanted them to come hang out with us. So it was kind of bittersweet anytime anybody won or lose because you'd end up with them at the island or get to root them on.

Reality TV World: Was there anybody you didn't get along with?

Garrett: Not really, no.

Reality TV World: I know you two have known each other for seven years, but how much of that of that time have you two actually been dating?

Garrett: The majority of it. Probably six out of the seven.

Reality TV World: What's the current status of your relationship?

Garrett: We are engaged now.

Reality TV World: Congratulations! Could you talk a little bit about that? Did the race play any role in it?

Garrett: Yeah... I always knew I was going to propose, but the race just kind of gave us an excuse to have a good story to go along with it. I had a ring with me the whole race. I buried it in the fanny pack, in this kind of secret compartment. I proposed after we got eliminated. I took it out when we went to that island. I proposed to her and we got engaged there.

Reality TV World: Do you have a date set?

Jessica: Yeah we figured 2010 we'll get married. A lot just happened in the last few months...

Reality TV World: What was your favorite overall experience on the show -- other than the engagement, I'm assuming.

Garrett: I enjoyed seeing Hollywood and the production side of everything. It was wild to show up in these out-of-the-way nowhere places and have 50, 60, 70 production people running around, setting up events and challenges, the cameras up in the trees, the walkie-talkies -- just everything. The whole production side was really amazing.

Reality TV World: What was your least favorite experience?

Jessica: Even though you think so much is in your control, it really is not. The show and production has a lot of control.

Garrett: They edit it to look like...

Jessica: Like it's a free-for-all...

Garrett: Well they edit it to look like the strongest team wins, and they edit it to look like there's reasons behind everything. But half of it's just chaotic and lucky. It's something different than is portrayed.

Reality TV World: That leads well into my last question. Is there anything that you wanted to make it onto the show that was edited out?

Garrett: We were hoping that they would show the duck with the broken foot and the broken flag -- all the unlucky stuff that led to us being out. But instead they just made it like it was poor communication and bad duck herding (Jessica laughing). So it was tough to see. They made it look like it was skill when a lot of it was, but a lot of it wasn't.

Garrett Paul, 28, and Jessica Stout, 27, survived a Japanese game show, but met their match in some wayward ducks on The Amazing Race, becoming the second team to get axed. "It definitely came down to luck, which is disappointing for us since we got out so early," Jessica tells TVGuide.com. What's not disappointing is getting engaged after getting the boot, silencing critics of their "Dating On and Off" label on the show. Get the details on their engagement, what went wrong with the ducks and more.

TVGuide.com: Do you find some solace in the fact that you actually made it onto a plane flight?Jessica: [Laughs] Yes! It would have been horrible to have been Eric and Lisa, but you know, it was so close. There was some other stuff that they didn't show on TV too. I had really bad luck my first try. My stick that you were supposed to herd the duck with was completely broken and they wouldn't give me a new one. But re-watching it last night, I saw a couple people that had two sticks in each hand! I was like, "What? Four sticks?!" Another time, I had a duck with a foot broken, so it wouldn't move and they didn't know what to do. Also, the guy wouldn't give us the clue either. It was really strange. We knew we were last. We were only a few seconds behind. It was just very short-lived. We had not even performed a Detour at that point and this was the end of the second leg.

TVGuide.com: Why weren't there any Detours? I thought one or two might have been edited out for time.Garrett: We think because they knew it was going to be a two-hour premiere that they had to fit two shows in there and there was the whole drama with the first elimination that they didn't have time to put in a Detour. Apparently this duck challenge, [creator] Bertram van Munster said he's been trying to do it for the past eight years and he finally got it together. So he really wanted a lot of focus on that. No one thought the Pit Stop was going to be right there. It kind of shocked everyone and we kind of got unlucky there.

TVGuide.com: Garrett, you were pretty mad at the Pit Stop.Jessica: I've been reading some stuff and everyone's focusing on that. I probably would've reacted just like Garrett did, but I was in shock because I couldn't believe we were at the Pit Stop and getting eliminated. It would be normal for anyone to react like that, given the Race and how it had been so far since it was so different from other Races in the past.Garrett: I was pissed. It was like a fast-moving tour group. No one got on different flights. Even the two flights at the beginning, it was a terminal thing. One of the planes went into a terminal, so they had to take the shuttle, and our flight, which was behind, flew right into the main terminal, so when we ran out, it was all the same.

TVGuide.com: What do you think went wrong with the ducks? It seemed like the guys had an easier time herding them.Jessica: Well, No. 1, it's something you can't practice for unless you've had experience with animals and herding, which one person had, Matt, having lived in Montana. Other than that, we had terrible luck. I literally couldn't do two of the 10-minute rounds because I had a broken flag and a broken duck. When they're not willing to help you out, it's costing me major time.

TVGuide.com: Both episodes had a lot to do with luck. In Japan with the Sushi Roulette, you basically had to wait until it landed on you.Jessica: Oh yeah, totally! It was total luck. Brian and Ericka — worst luck ever! They were there [at the Sushi Roulette] for so long! We feel like we didn't get to use any of our skills. We're strong and there was nothing physical except for the mud challenge. There was no problem-solving. Garrett's very analytical and I'm good at quick-solving stuff.Garrett: Brian ate, like, 30 pieces of sushi and was there for 10 or 15 minutes after everyone else. But as soon as they got into the city with their tour group, the very first person he asked, they knew exactly where it was. For us, we literally ran around the city for 40 minutes and no one knew where it was. It was this hole-in-the-wall that not a whole lot of people knew about.

TVGuide.com: Did you know Maria and Tiffany lied about being non-profit workers? From what they showed, it seemed like only a few teams found out they were poker players.Jessica: Yeah, we found out when someone outed them at the airport. We all knew. Everyone was kind of taken aback by it, just because of the lying factor. Everyone was getting to know each other and it's not Survivor where it's one man for himself. I don't know. Normally the whole lying thing doesn't play in here. And I didn't understand their reason too! They have no reason to lie! I think it would've been in their favor to say they're poker players.Garrett: Everyone was real outgoing and forthright except for the poker girls. It was a real tight cast. We kind of had an alliance with Brian and Ericka. We helped them get the airport in L.A. because they didn't know the area. We shared some information in Tokyo. Justin and Zev — Jessica and Justin had a mutual friend, so we kind of had a bond with them.

TVGuide.com: You spoke about marriage during the episodes. Where are you guys now?Garrett: We're engaged. I actually brought a ring with me on the Race and I proposed after we got eliminated. We snuck away for that. What was lame was that — I basically said that comment at the end, like, "Oh, I don't know if we're closer to marriage," kind of to throw off Jess more than anything because I wanted it to be an extra surprise. ... I asked producers not to put that in — and they knew we were engaged — but they put it in anyway.Jessica: [We'll get married] next year. It's laughable when you hear people go, "Oh, the on-and-off couple! They're going to break up after this!" It's just a game. I think it's hilarious watching it knowing there was a big, fat diamond ring in his fanny pack as he's shoveling mud across the river.

Amazing Race: Garrett and Jessica Gone But Engaged!September 29, 2009Day trader Garrett Paul, 28, and freelance editor Jessica Stout, 28, were eliminated from the 15th season of the Amazing Race due to fowl play in Vietnam. The California couple chatted with PEOPLE about the experience that literally ended with a diamond in the rough. –Carrie Bell

You had the makings of a strong team — fluent in Spanish, physically fit, educated, well-traveled. What went wrong?Jessica: It all came down to my lack of duck herding experience and some bad luck. I had a broken stick and a duck with a broken foot they didn’t show on TV. I would have normally freaked out or started crying but I did my best to stay calm because I knew that would help the ducks. I was scarred for weeks. If I even saw a picture of a duck, I would cringe and I actually saw many live ducks in the weeks that followed.

Had you been to Japan and Vietnam?Garrett: We had never been to either of the countries so it was great to see a couple new places. We spent a lot of time in Vietnam because the elimination station was on an island off Vietnam. The Vietnamese people were one of the friendliest cultures we have ever experienced. Japan was a whirlwind, a really quick leg, and was weird because you would try to ask directions and people would look down or away.Jessica: Mind you, we were frantic and yelling and traveling with a camera crew.

Have you acquired a taste for wasabi bombs?Garrett: I almost threw up! The toughest part was the real sticky rice in the bottom was almost impossible to get down without some water. It was so hot and painful. I was crying.

Your storyline revolved around your on-and-off seven-year relationship. Where do things stand now?Jessica: We have a big shocker for you.Garrett: We were selling ourselves as a lot more unstable than we were when trying out. I brought a ring with me and proposed to Jess after we got eliminated, so we are now engaged and planning a wedding for sometime in 2010.

Were you surprised, Jessica?Jessica: So surprised! We had to talk about it with a bazillion people before and on the Race. We told people we’d never been in a rush to get married and that we might not survive the race. We had broken up and they ended the whole episode with Garrett saying we weren’t closer to it. Little did I know he had a huge diamond ring in his fanny pack the whole time. I was floored that he pulled it off because it’s hard to surprise me.Garrett: That was the very end of the interview and we were trying to get out of there quick. I was trying to say something to throw Jess off more. It was more of a farce. I asked them not to use that line but they did anyway.

Jessica was painted as the one with the temper yet Garrett seemed to take losing on the boat much harder.Jessica: It was like we switched personalities and it was way worse than what they showed.Garrett: My hand was bleeding from hitting the boat. I ripped off my shirt. I was yelling at the top of my lungs. We don’t fail that often and I’m such an overachiever. It was such a lesson for us in accepting failure.

Who do you hope wins the million?Jessica: Zev and Justin. They are great solid guys and from California. Coincidentally Justin and I have people in common. Small world!

Day trader Garrett Paul, 28, and freelance editor Jessica Stout, 28, were eliminated from the 15th season of the Amazing Race due to fowl play in Vietnam. The California couple chatted with PEOPLE about the experience that literally ended with a diamond in the rough. –Carrie Bell

Chateau, Garrett, Jessica, Toni and I just spent a fabulous evening together talking "RACE"! Garrett and Jessica are a blast, and trust me, we would have loved seeing them on the race had they gone further. Thanks guys!!

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Chateau, Garrett, Jessica, Toni and I just spent a fabulous evening together talking "RACE"! Garrett and Jessica are a blast, and trust me, we would have loved seeing them on the race had they gone further. Thanks guys!!

Too bad they couldn't get a better edit while they were still in it, though. They weren't even portrayed in any interesting way. I'm sure we would have loved to see their true personalities.

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"The authority of example and considerations of character, unlike pudding, are not whipped up in an instant." - Neal A. Maxwell